A potentially rare Apple iPhone 3GS prototype is being offered for sale on eBay.

For anyone in the UK interested in a small part of Apple history, vofffka is happy to ship worldwide

The iPhone 3GS during a talk time test. The “Watchmen” DVD is merely there to simulate a user holding the phone to their ear, thereby shutting off the screen. Music from the Zune is being played through both phone mics.

(Credit: Eric Franklin/CNET)
Last year I had a bone to pick with Apple for not including a call duration feature on the iPhone. Not a big deal to most people I’m sure; however, when it comes to testing talk time here in CNET Labs, I can’t think of a more useful feature.
With last year’s iPhone 3G, I was able to circumvent this inconvenience by tracking the phone’s “Time since last full charge” duration. This number, as you might have guessed, tells you the amount of time that’s passed since the phone was last fully charged. So, all I had to do was charge the phone fully, start the test, wait until the battery died, plug it back in, and check that number.
This worked fine last year, but with the current round of iPhone 3G and 3GS testing, I’m getting extremely varied results–so varied, in fact, that I can no longer trust this method.
No matter, though, since the latest iPhone OS 3.0 added a call duration feature. I figured I’d just set up the talk time test–which involves taping earbuds from a MP3 player to the mic of the iPhone and a landline phone, calling the landline phone, and waiting for the battery to die. Then I’d come back several hours later and have delicious results waiting for me (kind of like an iPhone-testing-results Crock-Pot).
Once again, I’m slapped back to reality as, unfortunately, the couple of times I’ve tried using the call duration feature on the 3G and 3GS I’ve had little luck. Apparently, if the phone’s battery dies in the middle of a call, the duration of that call isn’t saved on the phone.–yet another roadblock.
Barring sitting around monitoring multiple phones (3G, 3GS, and Palm Pre), waiting 10 to 12 hours for them to die–and hoping I’m around when that actually happens–my only alternative was to log on to AT&T’s wireless site and access the call durations from there. Of course, nothing can ever be that easy. As it turns out, we only have the account information for one of the phones. Apple has told us that it either doesn’t have or can’t access (they weren’t very clear) the account information for the 3GS.
So, as suggested to me by our resident iPhone expert, Kent German, I decided to switch the SIM card of the 3G (which we do have the account information for) and use it for the 3GS. Although testing with this method will take twice the time, at least the results will be accurate.
None of this would not be so bad if, in addition to talk-time testing, I didn’t have to test the phone’s Web site loading performance (through 3G and Wi-Fi); battery duration during music; and battery duration during video–each in 3G and airplane modes.
Also, we run each test at least two times to ensure accurate results. In addition, the music tests can last up to 35 hours or more. And the video tests, which last from 8 to 12 hours, require me to be present the whole time thanks to the iPhone’s lack of a video repeat feature. I’m required to come back and restart the movie every two hours. I can track the audio, no problem, thanks to the device mentioned here.

1. WifiTrak (Find FREE WiFi)

2. Documents To Go® (Microsoft Word editing & Desktop sync)

3. Grocery Gadget Shopping List Sync Groceries

4. Write Now

5. Gas Buddy: Save Money at the Pump

6. Things

7. Todo

8. mSecure

9. Print & Share

10. Toodledo

While the site is popular and the developers have received over a million dollars in funding, 6rounds can become one of those sites that’s familiar to the entire web community. There is a piece of technology that will help this video chat concept achieve such success, and consequently take the video chatting experience in general to the next level. So what is this technology? Just look at the picture below. The 6rounds desktop application needs to be put on the Apple iPhone (or the iPod Touch, which according to the latest rumor should be getting a camera in the next model.)

iPhone/iPod Accessory Review: Defender Series Armband for iPod Classic, Touch and iPhone
Reviewed by: David Geguzinskis
-Official website
Price: $14.95

If you are one of those people who exercise a lot, and need a practical way to carry your beloved iPhone with you, then armbands might be a great solution. One such armband is offered by OtterBox – Defender Series Armband for iPhone, which also fits to other devices like iPod Touch and iPod Classic.
The armband features two components: silicone ‘pocket’, which holds your device, and band which goes around your hand.
The silicone is remarkably stretchy! The first time I tried putting my phone I thought that it might tear, but it didn’t. The thing is strong! Even for a big case like Otterbox Defender, it still manages to engulf it.
After you take the phone out, silicone goes back to normal state without any stretches. The pocket features 4 openings: for your microphone, on/off switch, speaker and microphone. Interestingly, there is no difference how you put your armband in, since it’s symmetrical.

One other drawback is that this armband is designed purely for Defender series cases, and will not hold your iPhone without a case on. However I’ve found that it might hold the phone if you have one of those bigger cases. But it’s obviously not recommended by OtterBox.
Conclusion:
Overall it’s a good product and a must if you enjoy regular exercises in the great outdoors and already have Defender case. While not the best looking it will do its job well!

Another day, another iPhone case, right? Well, kind of, but this one differs from all the others in that it’s totally awesome and has a set of lenses that fit into it. While I’m the last person in the world to shoot real pictures or video on a phone, if I had to, I’d certainly make sure I had some real glass on it. That’s what the Factron Quattro case offers — well, that and about a pound of extra weight in your pocket.

I love everything about it. The lines are nice, completely reshaping the iPhone to a meatier machine, the construction looks great (check out the screws), and who couldn’t use a wide-angle adapter now and again?

Unfortunately it’s a bit pricey at $200, and lenses come separately. For that price you could get a quarter ounce of gold! Beautiful, beautiful gold!

here’s a bit of a kerfluffle arising from the discolored iPhone 3GSes out there. Some users insist that the new phone is to fast for its britches and is cooking the case, but one Apple technician seems to think it could be the result of faulty cases. Really, sir. I find your ideas fascinating and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

It’s certainly not outside the realm of possibility, but there are steps to be taken to prove it. The FrenchiPhone post suggests that a quick wipe with some alcohol takes the color right off. Is this the solution? A cheaply dyed leather case might transfer its color to the iPhone and account for wipe-able stains, but we’ll wait for the other users with toasty iPhones to give it a shot.

In San Francisco, citizens complain to the city over Twitter. Bostonians have it even better: they got an iPhone application just for carping at City Hall. It’s never been easier to funnel your complaint into a Kafkaesque black hole!

With the iPhone app, that simply won’t happen anymore. Now citizens will get a tracking number for their complaints, and the city will now ignore their hectoring via the internet, as God intended. Thank you, Steve Jobs!

Apple hasn’t ever been great at this whole “heat dissipation” thing, but some new developments in the supposed overheating iPhone scandal of 2009 have us wondering how widespread or reproducible these problems might be. Here are a few semi-facts we’ve managed to amass:
Somebody’s white iPhone 3GS grew some ugly brown markings during heavy use.
A new development is saying that the discoloration came from a case (pictured), not from cooking the plastic.
More users than usual have been reporting an overheated iPhone error after the 3.0 update, but as Apple’s support documentation points out, this could just be from the time of year (summer, in case you haven’t been outside lately).
There isn’t a large mass of evidence denoting a major fault to the 3GS, 3.0 or chintzy white leather cases.
So, all that said, what’s been your experience?

6. IAmHere
Want your friends to know exactly where you are? (Scorpion Bay, Baja!) IAmHere sends an email with a link to Google Maps. In my tests it was accurate to within a hundred feet. $0.99